Growing up in the South Bay region of the Bay Area, Amanda Gil and Lainey Gera’s hometown team was the Stanford Cardinal.
Now, just one year removed from high school, Gil and Gera are members of the UCLA women’s volleyball team and can no longer just sit in the crowd and watch Stanford play.
Last weekend, Gil and Gera played against Stanford for the first time in their collegiate careers. Though the Bruins know many of their opponents only by the game tapes they study, Gil and Gera’s Bay Area volleyball roots had them well-connected with some of the familiar faces across the net.
“We are used to going to Stanford and seeing them play and everything,” Gil said. “It was really exciting because we know the players and the coach. It just makes you want to fire up and beat them even more.”
One particular person from Gil and Gera’s volleyball past was the Cardinal’s assistant coach Jason Mansfield, who coached both Bruins when they played for the Vision Volleyball Club. Mansfield coached Gil for three years from the ages of 15 to 17 and Gera for one year during her senior year of high school. Last spring, he coached Gil and Gera’s club team to a bronze medal at the Junior Olympics.
“He’s not the head coach, so I wasn’t really distracted but I would look at him a few times,” Gera said. “It’s kind of weird seeing him on the opposite side.”
Gera noticed that Mansfield was calling the service areas for the Cardinal. Throughout the match she would try to guess when her former coach was calling Stanford to serve the ball to her.
Even though Mansfield was helping to call the shots against them on Sunday, Gil and Gera had no hard feelings towards their familiar competition. Gil said that her former coach played an instrumental role throughout her college recruitment process, which eventually landed her at UCLA.
Sunday’s match against Stanford was also a reunion between former teammates. Gil and Gera both attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, which has a volleyball program that tends to produce several college recruits every year. After the match, Gera had the chance to catch up with Katherine Knox, who attended Archbishop Mitty and is now a freshman defensive specialist for Stanford.
As the Pac-10 season continues, Gil and Gera are looking forward to the Northern California road trip the Bruins will take in late November to play a series against California and Stanford. Both players said that they cannot wait to return to Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto to be the competitors they once watched Stanford face.
“It’s going to be a great crowd because everyone from my school is coming to the game,” Gil said. “It will be pretty interesting.”